Docunight #60 [Waterloo]: Finding Farideh

#60: Finding Farideh
Directed by: Kourosh Ataee, Azadeh Moussavi
2018 / 88 mins
Persian with English Subtitles

Iran’s entry for the international feature film category
in the 92nd Academy Awards (the Oscars) in 2020.

“Finding Farideh” is a feature-length documentary about an Iranian girl named Farideh, who had been abandoned in a holy shrine in Iran when she was 6 months old in 1976, and then she got adopted by a Dutch couple and left Iran to the Netherlands to start her new life. Her parents promised to take her to Iran when she turns 18, but it never happened because they always thought that Iran is a dangerous country to go. Now, she overcomes her fears and starts a personal journey to her motherland Iran for the first time to meet three families who claim to be her biological family and to find out about her Iranian identity and culture.

Festivals:

Cinema Verite International Film Festival, Iran
Fadjr International Film Festival, Iran
Iranian Film festival in Cologne, Germany
Prague Iranian Film Festival, Czech Republic
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, USA
Docudays UA International film festival, Ukraine
Zurich Iranian Film Festival, Switzerland
Middle East Now Film Festival, Italy
Istanbul International Film Festival, Turkey
Kazan International Muslim Film Festival, Russia
Awards:

Winner of the Special Prize of the Tataristan’s President for “Humanity in Cinema” at Kazan International Muslim Film Festival, Russia
Winner of 4 awards in Iran’s international documentary film festival “Cinema Verite” : (Best Film in Art & Experience Section, Best Editing, Best Music and Festival director’s special prize).
Winner of the best documentary award at the 20th Iran’s Cinema Celebration Academy Awards.
Winner of an honorary diploma for best directing and the award for best sound design in the 10th Independent Celebration of Iranian Documentary Films.
Winner of the best documentary film in the 1st “Cinema Cinema Academy Awards”